Bikeroam

There are many many questions people ask a (solo) traveler on a bike but a few of them tend to repeat over and over, no matter to which country I went.

Number #1. Are you by yourself?

This was certainly the first question people asked when they saw me. Further into the conversations I would find different meanings to this question. Some people believe it’s scary to be alone, less fun. For others it’s not practical and tiring.

For me, however, it’s a completely irrelevant question. I enjoy being alone as much as having a good company and both have their own special place and purpose.

In bicycle touring routine being by yourself makes things easier and more productive in many cases, gives a lot of time to recharge and reflect, and makes you more focused and independent.

Number #2. Aren’t you afraid?

This was most likely in direct correlation with the question number #1. Alone? woman? on a bike? – you must be scared.

If before my trip it was a largely abstract question to which I would just reply “not really”, later I became curious to what people actually meant.  Did they think about the roads, animals, weather, sickness, accidents?

Of course, everyone had their own fears but it was very interesting to learn that humans are most often scared of the other humans. More to experiment than to amuse myself, I would instantly ask if I should be afraid of them now. This only created a lot of laughter and disagreement with such thoughts.

But why do we think that everyone is bad except from us? Why can’t we start from the opposite angle and work it out step by step? I think most of the cyclists or adventurers in general start their social interaction with the positive assumption and this largely pays off.

Let’s think about it in a very simple way. If someone is 50% bad and 50% good, coming with a smile will trigger the ‘good half’ while coming with the thought that ‘you are a bad person’ will bring out the worse part. What goes around comes around.

Read more on the real fears of bike touring here.

Number #3. Aren’t you tired?

Sometimes, but mostly not. How come?

People unfamiliar with cycle touring often think that it’s an exhausting all-day endeavor and that cyclists torture themselves climbing up and down in rough weather conditions.

It can certainly happen so but generally the aim of bike touring is to enjoy your time. You can cycle 20km or 120km, you can cycle every day or rest for a week in a beautiful spot, you can go non-stop for 3 hours or make 30 breaks in an hour. The key is the freedom to decide and have no pressure to reach somewhere at a particular time.

Naturally there were times when I was dead tired at the end of the day but a healthy dinner and a good night’s sleep would make me refreshed and recharged in the morning.

If it’s not fun, get off and have a rest. Usually, a 5 minutes break would make me energized again.

Which roads will you take? Where will you sleep? How about the animals? And people? What are you going to eat?

I was asked all these questions many many times before and during the trip. My answer generally was that I figure it out as I get there. I saw the roads when I got to the country – which ones were in a good condition and which ones were busy for example. Sleeping I usually arranged on the day when the weather was already good enough for camping and maybe 1-2 days in advance when it was cold and I was relying on the Warmshowers community.

I hardly saw any wild animals to my disappointment (see the exact count in the infographics here). People on the other hand scored very high on humanness index, 99 out of 100. Eating has never bothered me, I can eat anything, at any time of the day and I have enough reserved to go on for several days 😉

So, very soon after I started my trip I confirmed to myself that those conventional fears or concerns are not an issue at all, at least not for me.

However, there were other concerns that evolved on the road. While cycling, in my head, I called them “the real fears of bike touring.” And here they are – my real fears on the road:

• Cap flying away. I took my 1969 Gap baseball cap that I had had for more than 10 years to protect from cold and heat. Despite of its perfect performance, it had one terrible flaw – it was trying to escape at every single downhill or just in a windy weather. Not handy in any case. But I did partially conquer this fear my narrowing the inner ribbon of the cap. Happened a few times.
• Forgetting something. As I tried to take with me only what was really necessary, I didn’t want to loose anything because that would mean that I needed to search and replace that item. Pegs, chargers, toothbrush etc. Didn’t happen….unless I forgot 🙂
• Anything falling off the bike while I ride. Same category as above. Sometimes the road was too bumpy or steep downhill and it was difficult to control if any items not attached to the bike like the jacket you just put behind you is still there. Did happen.

• Getting a flat tyre when it’s cold and there is nowhere to warm up. I didn’t fear getting a flat, but I did fear getting it in a cold weather since I knew I would most likely get frozen fingers. Didn’t happen luckily.
• Letting a mosquito to sleep in my tent. No need to comment this one. Real as hell when mosquitoes love you to death! Don’t know if it happened, I had too many bites anyways.
• Forgetting to put sunscreen on my face. No matter how tanned I got, my face would get super red and burn at the end of the day. Did happen.
• Forgetting (again) to unclip from the pedals. This is by far the most real fear I had. I learned to ride SPDs (when the shoes clips into the pedal) when I was already one month into my trip. It was very helpful, especially on the uphills, but it also meant that I had to get used to the new reality of having to unclip before I stop. They say, “you won’t learn until you fall.” Well, I fell a few times. One time was literally spectacular as I was going downhill with this absolutely stunning scenery in front of me and thought that I should stop to take a picture. It’s an interesting feeling when you know it’s already too late to do anything and you start to look for the nicest pattern to fall to your right or left. I am glad my mum taught me to laugh when I fall and not to cry 🙂 Did happen.

You will most likely agree with me that these fears are not substantial; they were rather my way to get a playful but practical list of the road fears. And you will surely have your special list when you go on a trip and will figure out everything very soon. But you won’t have a chance to even know them if you don’t 😉